TheBugMan’s BodyBlog

I can see some changes, but of course change never comes as quickly as I would like.  You would think as much as I pose in front of the mirror everyday, that when it was time to take pictures I would be able to really hit the poses and it feel natural.  It doesn’t.  I imagine people who compete spend a lot of time practicing posing.  It is not as easy as some make it look.  That’s it for tonight training early in the morning and still need to recover from my last workout.  G’night.

I haven’t posted in about 10 days.  I have been waiting to report what I think of my new routine.  Well today completed my 6th workout.  I am only doing MWF and a full body HIT workout each day.  I have to say I am very pleased so far.  I am struggling mentally though.  It is tough to wrap your brain around the idea that you can do 12 total sets per workout and get anything out of it.  I am definitely  getting leaner, stronger and feel good all day.  I have dropped the 6-8 HIIT cardio sessions for now and trying to follow the HIT program  as  strictly as I can.   I am finally getting my workouts so intense that I am literally nauseous after each workout.  Having somebody there to push you harder would be nice.  I know there are times that I may have eeked out just a little more if pushed a little.    Still, feeling like you are about to blow chunks is a pretty good indicator that you have pushed hard.  Fortunately, I have been working out on an empty stomach.

I have increased the weight on every exercise in my routine since I started and in some exercises I was able to increase every time I worked out.  I had to modify some of the exercises to get the maximum benefit since I work out by myself.  I don’t feel comfortable doing bench press to failure.  So I am now using the Hammer Strength machine for that.  I will likely take pictures at some point this week and update my progress pics.  I think I will start taking them a couple of times a week in exactly the same location and same lighting to really tell if there is changes happening.

I just bought one of these at the Vitamin Shoppe.  It has to be the best way of mixing Protein Powders ever invented.  I have used a bunch of different shaker bottles over the years, and always hated that some of the powder clinged to the edges of the bottles.  Or it settled to the bottom since it wasn’t completely mixed.  Those days are gone!  I so wish I had invented this idea.  It works.  If you drink a lot of protein drinks do yourself a favor and pick a couple of these up.  You will love it.  www.blenderbottle.com

Also I think I have the 28oz, but the measurement goes up to 20oz on the side.  Since I usually mix 16oz of water with 2 scoops of Protein Powder it works perfectly.  Clean up is a snap.  By the way you can get them right here on Bodybuilding.com for $5.99!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/blenderbottle/blenderbottle.html

Sugar.  That’s right it is nothing more than crack for kids.  It makes them crazy.  They get irrational and disfunctional when they have it, and even worse when they can’t have it.  I didn’t let my oldest daughter even know  what sugar was until she was a year old.  We were at a Birthday party for another 1 year old and after a bunch of grief from others at the party we let our daughter have a small piece of the Birthday cake.  BIG MISTAKE!  After about 3-4 bites she started flipping out.  Grabbing the cake and shoving it in her mouth hands flailing and cake flying all over the place.  It was not a pretty site.  We ended up carrying her away with her throwing what I would consider her first true tantrum.  It was awful.  I was dedicated to keeping her from going through this and putting us through this again and again.

Fast forward to the present.  I am still fighting to prevent this kind of thing from happening with both my daughters.  The problem is my Mother in Law.  She will not listen.  "What’s the harm?"  "It’s just a few bites."  "I didn’t give them that much."  She gave them hot cocoa for breakfast and within 10 minutes my 2 1/2 year old is flipping out.  My Mother in Law is complaining that "I shouldn’t have to take this in the morning!"  Damn!  You give them sugar and caffeine first thing in the morning and  your surprised when they act up????  They can’t control their behavior with the insidious drug surging through their veins!    "Overindulgence is the most insidious form of child abuse."  Dr. Phil

Added a video to my videos of Jack Lalanne.  Watch it.

I am starting to wonder if some people sweat less than others.  I can barely break a sweat.  I just finished 20 minutes of HIIT cardio with my heart rate staying between 160 and 180 for 20 minutes.  I drink at least a gallon of water throughout the day and 20oz of water during that 20 minutes on the Elliptical Xtrainer.  I look at people around me not putting out nearly the same intensity and they are soaked in a pool of sweat.  Anyone else here not sweat much even when your working hard enough that you should?

Well I changed up my workout yesterday morning.  I had purchased a $13 book from Amazon written by Ellington Darden, Ph.D.  "The New High Intensity Training".

I had seen several hotly debated conversations on the forums after ordering it for and against the idea of HIT training, so I wondered if I had just waisted $13.  I figured what the heck, give it a shot.  Normally I split me workout into upper and lower body.  I was essentially following the Body For Life workout.  I am used to doing about 24-28 sets per workout.  I was spending about 45 minutes to an hour per workout in the gym.  So when I sat down to plan out the HIT workout that I was going to be following yesterday I was really struggling.  I was only going to be doing 1set per body part!  The entire workout is only 12 sets of 8-12 reps.  I kept questioning whether or not to go through with it.  I finally decided to go ahead and give it a go yesterday morning.  I did a full body workout and it took about 20-25 minutes max.  I was completely whipped out.  I was blown away with the idea that a simple workout like this could have any impact, but it did.  I was fatigued throughout the day and even hold a fork an knife last night to cut my meal was a task?  I was in disbelief.  How could this be?

So I have no idea what my final opinion will be about HIT, but I was impressed with my first workout, and am willing to give it some time.  I am looking forward to speeding up the workout once I become even more familiar with the program, and of course figuring out the best weight for each exercise will make it even more intense as well.

So today I have been very concious of the amount of water I am taking in.  I think when I got to the gym for my evening cardio sission, I must have been holding some water.  I looked smoother than I have been looking lately.  I was not too happy about it, then I came to the conclusion that it had to be water.  I did a 30 minute HIIT session on the eliptical xtrainer and burned a little of it off.  After walking around a little and cooling down my vascularity started to return and I was looking much better.  I was getting worried for a short time that I ay actually be gaining weight!  That would tick me off. 

So while I am on the xtrainer a kid mabe 12 or 13 steps on a xtrainer in the row in front of me.  Must have been with his parents, or jst on a pass for he day.  Defenitely not a regular.  He gets on with his street clothes, you know the kind that all the gangster types wear now.  Essentially they are hanging on the thigh somehow, and if his shirt wasn’t 5 sizes too big you would see the bottom edge of his boxers.  Not sure if you have tried an eliptical xtrainer lately with your pants literally hanging around your thighs, but it doesn’t work too well.  I tapped the lady next to me and she says…"It looks like his pants are falling off."  I told her that was how they started.  About 90 seconds into his workout the pants finally came down around his knees.  Ever try pulling your pants up from around your knees while on an eliptical xtrainer?  Let’s just say the hilarity ensued, and I was already having a tough time catching my breath.  So much for his gangster rep. 

I really need to take some time this week and update my photos.  I haven’t made any huge leaps in my physique, but there is some change.  My measurements with the exception of my waist are almost identical.  I guess I could update those right now. 

I also want to say that I love browsing through this site.  So many of you are really inspriring.  The level of fitness anf the quality of your physiques are amazing.  It is very motivational and really burns into my mind what is possible if you are willig to work hard.  Thanks Everyone.  -Chad

How do you know what body type you really are?  At times I think it is pretty clear that I am an Endomorph, then I start wondering if that is really true.  Am I an endomorph or a product of a lifetime of bad eating?  If I had eaten clean from the day I was born, would I really be a mesomorph or an ectomorph?  Not that it really makes much of a difference, you still have to figure out what works for each one of us.

With that in mind, have any of the Endomorphs on this site found a particular workout that just gave them phenomenal  results?  I have read that HIT workouts are particularly good for endomorphs but haven’t tried it myself yet.  I may give it a go for a month or two and see what the results are.  It’s important to change it up any way so why not?

I was watching a few body building videos on YouTube, and saw this one of Nate Morton.  I would never have thought of working out my biceps in this manner, but after seeing his, it makes me wonder.  I certainly am willing to try anything that will get me closer to the quality of his biceps.  There are a lot of you on this site, including women that have the kind of biceps that garner jaw dropping looks.  What methods have you found give you the best shape?

I am going to figure out how to add it to the favorite video section, it will be there in a minute.

So as I was doing my second session of Cardio tonight I started thinking that I sure do have a lot of thoughts while I am doing Cardio.  Some are good, some are funny and some are just plain random.  So it got me thinking…  What do some of you think about?  Tonight my mind wondered through the people around me and what they were doing, how many seconds do I have left until I can go up or down to the next level, is this ever going to be over, my foot is starting to tingle, why isn’t this damn thing picking up my heart rate, that person actually parked far away even though there were three spaces available up front, she isn’t getting much benefit from walking that slow on a treadmill while reading people magazine, crap all that thinking only took 20 seconds  I still have 40 seconds to go on this minute… 

I have to say I am finding ways to actually enjoy Cardio.  I am willing to do more of it as well.  Always pushing it as much as I can.  Switching up the type of machine, intensity, lenght of time…  It’s become a game to keep it interesting and fun.  So what is going through your mind????